Railroad switching device



Aug. 23, 1927. 1,640,204

B. MARTINI RAILROAD SWITCHING DEVICE' Filed Oct. 11, 1926 2 sheets-sheet 1 .dzforzzeys 1,640,204 Aug. 23, 1927. B. MARTINI RAILROAD SWITCHING DEVICE Filed 001:. 11, 1926 2 Sheets-Shoat 2 m remroR fila gi o haiku wfwxw to as great an extent to wear.

Patented Aug. 23, 1927.

UNITED STATES,

1,640,204 PATENT OFFICE.

IBIAGIO MARTINI, 0E PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILROAD SWITCHING DEVICE. l

Application filed October 11, 1926. Serial No. 140,788.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a new and improved switehing de vice which takes the place of the rigld railway-frogs now in common use and at the same time greatly reduces the liabihty to derailments, as now exists wherever rigid frogs are used. Another object of this invention is to do away with the so-called guard-rails and correlated parts which must invariably be used in connection with ordlnary frogs to prevent, as well as possible, derailments. Still another object of this 1nvention is the provision of a switching device which may be installed at low cost, is very simple in construction and operation and in which the parts most exposed to wear and tear may be easily and quickly renewed without discarding any of the other parts of the switching device that are not exposed Additional features and advantages of this invention will appear in the course of the following description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part of this application, and in which 0 Fig. 1 is a plan view showing the unction of two railroad tracks into one, at which junction my switching device has been installed to replace the usual railroad-frog now employed.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on line 22 in Fig. 1, V Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary View showing my switching device in the same position as indicated in 1.

Fig. 5 is a similar view, showing my switching device in the opposite position to that shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a section of a track-junction showing my switching devlce in place and the mechanism for operating it in conjunction with other parts of the switching mechanism.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of a track-junction built according to the usual practice now in vogue and in, which a rigid railway-frog and the usual guard-rails are shown.

In View of the fact that the main object of my invention is to eliminate the use of costly and rapidly deteriorating railwayfrogs, I have chosen to call my device a shift- ;trog, to distinguish it from other switching elements employed in everyday railway construction.

Reference being had to the drawings, the shift-frog is composed of two principal parts, namely the. movable half 1 and the.

stationary half 2. The movable half comprises the two converging rail sections 3 and 4 which are held at their junction by means of the wedge-shaped filler-block 5. The rails are secured to the main portion of the track by means of the splice-bars 6 which permit a slight angular and horizontal movement of the rail elements 3 and 4. The latter rest freely upon the specially built tie-plates 7 upon which are secured by means of the rivets 8 the rail-braces 9 which serve also as stops for limiting the lateral movements of the rails to the required amount. Rail 3 is rigidly secured to the filler-block 5, whereas rail 4 is held against said block in such a manner as to permit a certain sliding movement of said rail against the block, in order to enable the simultaneous lateral shifting of both rail elements. A study of Figs. 1 and 5 will show that if the rail elements 3 and 4 are properly cut to be in line when the shift-frog is in the position shown in Fig. 5, an angular shifting of said rails into the position illustrated in Fig. 1 will cause the rail 4 to protrude beyond the rail 3 and the apex of the filler-block 5. In order to provide for this relative movement of the rails 3 and 4, they are secured to the fillerblock 5 in the manner shown especially in Figs. 2 and 3. As shown therein, throughbolts 10 are inserted. in registering apertures 11, 12 and 13'provided respectively in the rail 3, the filler-block .5 and the rail 4. The apertures in therail 3 and the filler-block are circular and fit snugly about the bolts, whereas the apertures 13 in the rail 4 are elongated and enlarged to provide for the insertion and longitudinal play 01': the sleeves or bushings 14 the length of which is slightly greater than the thickness ofthe web of the rail, to produce a small clearance whereby any clamping of the web of the rail by the bolts is prevented and the sliding of said rail on the filler-block assured.

The stationary half of the shift-frog consists of the converging rails 15 and 16 which are permanently secured on the ties 17 by means of the usual spikes 18. These rails Ill are also rigidly secured by means of bolts 19 to the filler-block 20 which serves tohold the converging ends 01 said rails in proper spaced relation to enable the passage of the Wheel-flanges of the rollingctock.

In Fig. 6 is shown one method of actuating the shitt l rog in connection with the other movable component parts used in a track-junction. As shown, this junction con sists ot'the tracks 21 and 22 which converge into the single track 23. The switching mechanism for this junction is composed of the shift-frog and correlated parts of my invention and of the standard split-switch 24L comprising the two movable switch-feathers 25 and. 26. The shift-frog and split-switch are operated simultaneously and in the same direction by means of the connecting-rods 27 and 28 which are hingedly connected. in any desired manner to said frog and split-switch. The other ends or" the connecting-rods are rockably connected to the bell-crank-levers 29 and 30, respectively, which are actuated by a common pull-rod 31. The latter may be moved. back and forth by means of the aircylinder 32 disposed alongside the railroad track and which preferably is connected to a distant switch-tower (not shown) by means of piping indicated diagrammatically by numeral 83. This type of air-cylinder is now commonly used in railroad engineering for the distant control oi movable switching devices, and for that reason a detail description is not thought necessary. In this figure I have also indicated in. dot and dash lines the course that would be taken by a railroadv car or locomotive it the split-switch and the shift-frog were placed in the manner shown.

Fig. 7 has been drawn to'better visualize the structural diilerences between the common construction and the one which forms the subject matter of this application. As is well known, the rigid frogs Bused at the present time are subject to tren'lendous wear, especially at the point, and in order to increase the useful life of said frogs, they are made of very expensive alloy-steels of great hardness. Also, in order to prevent any jumping of the wheels of the rolling stock at the point of the frog, it is imperative that the guardrails 35 and 36 be used to guidesaid wheels into the right tracks. When rigid frogs made of alloy-steel are worn at the most exposed parts, it becomes necessary to practically discard the whole frog because the nature of the steel used does not allow its reheating and forging without greatly reducing its wearing quality.

As compared with rigid frogs, the wear on the shift-frog of my invention is limited practically to the component rail elements 3 and 4 and the latter may readily be renewed on the site, if necessary, with the help of the tools'usually carried by the track repair-men.

Moreover, the rail-elements are of the same material as the common rails used for the tracks and, on account of their relative shortnessmay often be-cut from pieces of rails which otherwise would be considered as scrap. It has also been stated that the rapid wear of solid frogs occurs mainly at the point of the frog where the change of direction occurs, in my device there is no such vulnerable point, on the contrary the ail-elements 3 and l offer at the point of change of direction practically the full crosssection and the wheels pass over this point with the same ease as they pass over the small gaps which appear at the places where the rail-lengths are spliced together. For these reasons my device is not only more durable but also much safer. 1

As will be understood, there may be slight changes made in the construction and arrangement of the details of my invention without departing "from the field and scope or the same, and I intend toinclude all such variations, as fall within the scope of the appended claims, in this application in which the preferred form only of my invention has been disclosed.

I claim: 7

1. In a shift-frog, a stationary half and a movable halt comprising two converging rail-elements and a filler-block positioned at the pointof convergence of said rail-elements; means for securing one of said railelements rigidly to said filler-block; means for securing the other rail-element for longitudinal sliding movement along said fillerblock; connecting means for hingedly' securing the divergent ends of said rail-elements to the rails of a railway track, and means for rotating said movable half in a horizontal plane about said connectingmeans.

2. In a shift-frog, the combination of a stationary halt comprising two stationary convergingrails and a filler-block positioned at the point of convergence of said rails; means for securing said rails rigidly to said filler-block; a movable half comprising two converging rail-elements and a movable filler-block positioned at they point of con vergence of said rail-elements; unitary means for securing one of said rail-elements rigidly to said movable filler-block and for securing the other rail-element'for longitudinal sliding movement along said movable filler-block; connecting means for hingedly securing the divergentends of said rail-elements to the rails of a railway-track, and means for rotating said movable half in a horizontal plane about said connecting means.

3. Ina shift-frog, the combination of a stationary half'comprising two stationaryconverging rails and a filler-block positioned at the point of convergence of said rails,

means for securing said rails rigidly to said filler-block; a movable half comprising two converging rail-elements and a movable filler-block positioned at the point of convergence of said rail-elements; unitary means for securing one of said rail-elements rigidly to said movable filler-block and for securing the other rail-element for longitudinal sliding movement along said fillerblock; connecting means for hingedly securing the divergent ends of said railelements to the rails of a railway-track; means for rotating said movable half in a horizontal plane about said connecting means, and means for limiting the amount of rotation of said movable half.

l. In a shift-frog, the combination of a stationary half comprising two stationary converging rails and a filler-block positioned at the point of convergence of said rails; means for securing said rails rigidly to said filler-block; a movable half comprising two converging rail-elements and a movable filler-block positioned at the point of convergence of said rail-elements; unitary means for securing one of said rail-elements rigidly to said movable filler-block and for securing the other rail-element for longitudinal sliding movement along said fillerblock; connecting means for hingedly securing the divergent ends of said rail-elements to the rails' of a railway-track; means for rotating said movable half in a horizontal plane about said connecting means, and stationary rail-braces adapted to simultaneously limit the amount of rotation of said movable half and support the rail element engaged thereby.

5. In a shift-frog comprising a stationary half and a movable half, the combination of a movable filler-block for securing the converging rail-ends of said movable half, said filler-block being rigidly connected to one of said rail-ends and connected for longitudi-' nal sliding movement to the other converging rail-end.

6. In a shift-frog of the character described, a movable half comprising two converging rails; a filler-block positioned at the point of convergence of said rails; a throughbolt for holding said parts together; one of said rails and said filler having registering apertures fitting closely about said bolt and the other rail having an oblong aperture also engaged by said bolt, whereby said other rail may slide longitudinally along said filler-block.

7. In a shift-frog of the character described, a movable half comprising two converging rails; a filler-block positioned at the point of convergence of said rails; athroughbolt for holding said parts together; one of said rails and said filler having registering apertures fitting closely about said bolt and the other rail having an oblong aperture also engaged by said bolt whereby said other rail may slide longitudinally along said fillerblock, and means to prevent the rigid clamping of said other rail to said filler-block.

8. In a shift-frog of the character described, a movable half comprising two converging rails and a filler block positioned at the point of convergence of said rail; a through-bolt for holding said parts together; one of said rails and said filler-block having registering apertures fitting closely about said bolt and the other rail having an enlarged and oblon aperture also engaged by said bolt, and a ushing fitting about said bolt and positioned in said. enlarged aperture, said bushing being longer than the thickness of the web of said other rail to prevent the rigid clamping of the latter against said filler-block.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

BIAGIO MARTINI. 

